I have a few more samples that produce noticable artifacts at low bitrates.
I know that -q 30 is far from transparent, but that setting seems to really struggle with vocals on this sample:
foo_abx 1.3.4 report
foobar2000 v0.9.6.5
2009/05/05 21:41:14
File A: C:\Temp\Birthday Dethday [Edit] -q 30.mp4
File B: C:\Temp\Birthday Dethday [Edit].flac
21:41:14 : Test started.
21:41:27 : 01/01 50.0%
21:41:34 : 02/02 25.0%
21:41:44 : 03/03 12.5%
21:41:50 : 04/04 6.3%
21:41:56 : 05/05 3.1%
21:42:01 : 06/06 1.6%
21:42:07 : 07/07 0.8%
21:42:13 : 08/08 0.4%
21:42:19 : 09/09 0.2%
21:42:24 : 10/10 0.1%
21:42:30 : 11/11 0.0%
21:42:35 : 12/12 0.0%
21:42:39 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 12/12 (0.0%)
Underwater volcals.
foo_abx 1.3.4 report
foobar2000 v0.9.6.5
2009/05/05 21:43:20
File A: C:\Temp\Birthday Dethday [Edit] -q 30.mp4
File B: C:\Temp\Birthday Dethday [Edit] V8.mp3
21:43:20 : Test started.
21:43:32 : 01/01 50.0%
21:43:38 : 02/02 25.0%
21:43:48 : 03/03 12.5%
21:43:54 : 04/04 6.3%
21:43:59 : 05/05 3.1%
21:44:07 : 06/06 1.6%
21:44:15 : 07/07 0.8%
21:44:19 : 08/08 0.4%
21:44:25 : 09/09 0.2%
21:44:31 : 10/10 0.1%
21:44:32 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 10/10 (0.1%)
Vocals are lot more clearer on the LAME V8 encode. IMO the LAME V8 encode sounds better, even if the drums sound worse.
Also I found a noticable artifact on start of a track at -q 0.50:
foo_abx 1.3.4 report
foobar2000 v0.9.6.5
2009/05/05 21:13:40
File A: F:\Music\Albums\Skinny Puppy - Too Dark Park\01. Convulsion.flac
File B: C:\Temp\Convulsion (Nero AAC 1.3.3.0 -q 0.50).m4a
21:13:40 : Test started.
21:14:06 : 01/01 50.0%
21:14:11 : 02/02 25.0%
21:14:18 : 03/03 12.5%
21:14:29 : 04/04 6.3%
21:14:35 : 05/05 3.1%
21:14:44 : 06/06 1.6%
21:14:52 : 07/07 0.8%
21:15:04 : 08/08 0.4%
21:15:16 : 09/09 0.2%
21:15:26 : 10/10 0.1%
21:15:33 : 11/11 0.0%
21:15:40 : 11/12 0.3%
21:15:43 : 12/13 0.2%
21:15:49 : 13/14 0.1%
21:15:54 : 14/15 0.0%
21:16:06 : 15/16 0.0%
21:16:14 : 16/17 0.0%
21:16:20 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 16/17 (0.0%)
Artifact appears around at 0:04.
foo_abx 1.3.4 report
foobar2000 v0.9.6.5
2009/05/05 21:17:20
File A: F:\Music\Albums\Skinny Puppy - Too Dark Park\01. Convulsion.flac
File B: C:\Temp\Convulsion (Nero AAC 1.3.3.0 -q 0.55).m4a
21:17:20 : Test started.
21:17:51 : 00/01 100.0%
21:17:55 : 01/02 75.0%
21:18:03 : 02/03 50.0%
21:18:10 : 03/04 31.3%
21:18:22 : 04/05 18.8%
21:18:36 : 04/06 34.4%
21:18:45 : 04/07 50.0%
21:18:48 : 05/08 36.3%
21:18:53 : 05/09 50.0%
21:19:00 : 06/10 37.7%
21:19:06 : 07/11 27.4%
21:19:12 : 08/12 19.4%
21:19:31 : 08/13 29.1%
21:19:38 : 08/14 39.5%
21:19:42 : 08/15 50.0%
21:19:47 : 09/16 40.2%
21:19:50 : 10/17 31.5%
21:19:58 : 11/18 24.0%
21:20:03 : 12/19 18.0%
21:20:12 : 13/20 13.2%
21:20:21 : 14/21 9.5%
21:20:27 : 15/22 6.7%
21:20:33 : 16/23 4.7%
21:20:39 : 17/24 3.2%
21:20:43 : 17/25 5.4%
21:20:49 : 18/26 3.8%
21:20:55 : 19/27 2.6%
21:21:01 : 19/28 4.4%
21:21:03 : Test finished.
----------
Total: 19/28 (4.4%)
I think its still almost there, but i gave up.
Samples:
Birthday Dethday
Convulsion